The present invention relates to a charger for an electric vehicle.
Electric vehicles mean vehicles driven by using electricity and may be classified into battery powered electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.
In this case, battery powered electric vehicles are driven by only using electricity, which are generally designated as electric automobiles. Also, hybrid electric vehicles mean vehicles driven by using electricity and fossil fuel. Also, electric vehicles as described above each includes a battery for supplying electricity for driving. Particularly, in the case of battery powered electric vehicles and plug-in type hybrid electric vehicles, batteries thereof are charged by currents supplied from external power source and drive electric motors.
On the other hand, in the case of cord-set type chargers for charging electric vehicles, electric vehicles are charged by using commercial power source. For this, cord-set type chargers are connected to electric outlets provided in residences or offices and electric vehicles, thereby supplying power to electric vehicles.
General chargers include displays only for displaying charging states. Accordingly, when chargers are not working, it is impossible to analyze failure causes or to update firmware.
Such limitations may be overcome by forming ports for connecting diagnosis devices or firmware updating devices on chargers. However, in the case of chargers, which are necessary for providing waterproofing performance as mandatory, when ports are formed on chargers, additional configurations for providing waterproofing performances are needed. Also, since ports for communication are separately formed, malicious users may change or damage programs in chargers.